Skip to main content

Nagar Sankirtan with Uma Didi



Srimati Uma didi (left) and Rangavati didi.


I’ve always wanted to do a nagar-sankirtan seva (congregational chanting of the holy names). But having to acquire a police permit is a little daunting. The law here requires any public display of religious sentiments to have a permit so as not to disturb others of different faith.

That’s when I came up with the idea of chanting at the park. Devotees can sit around the park and chant. We can even call it “Krsna Picnic."


I talked to Lalita didi about it and she was excited to do this. But it had to be after the Kartik month since she was going for parikrama. I also talked to some other devotees and they were just as eager.

Nitai Gauranga Jaya!! Gaura Hari!!!


When Lalita didi came back, we set the date for 15th November. We did not call many devotees as the weather was really bad. It rained everyday. And we had to do a lot of cancellations if it rained.

Unfortunately, a day before the scheduled nagar sankirtan, Lalita didi had some emergency meeting. She informed that a senior Vaishnavi, Srimati Uma didi was coming for a stop over before flying off to Oakland.

Also, whomever I’ve requested to come could not make it as well.

I assured Lalita didi that it was alright and perhaps I will take Uma didi to the park instead. I’ve known Uma didi for a long time. She is such a sweet, gentle and great soul.

So on Sunday (15th November), as soon as I parked my car outside our preaching centre, a loud clap of thunder was heard. The whole day seemed fairly ok, and I feared of a heavy down pour.

I quickly went to the centre, met Uma didi and her assistant Rangavati didi and mentioned of my intentions. They very happily decided to join in the harinama chanting. This despite the fact they flew in only that morning.

We headed to the park, less than 5 minutes drive and picked a spot. We chanted loudly for about an hour. People passed us by. Some noticed, some nodded, some ignored. Many families were there with their children. Some playing, some just sitting by and some doing their evening exercises.

After that I took out my home made almond cookies prasadam and we relished it together. I also mentioned to Uma didi, how Srila Gurudeva used walk around the perimeters of the lake in the park.



Home-made almond cookies


Soon little silver droplets from the heavens started to sprinkle upon us. We made it to the car and headed towards the centre.


Later that evening Uma didi spoke on the importance of nagar sankirtan. (will blog about the class soon).

All's well, that ends well.

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Lilavathy said…
now i know what i miss.
December 13, 2009 at 1:46 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Life & Times of Sripad Bhakti Prakash Hrishikesh Maharaja in Malaysia

When I heard about the passing away of Sripad Bhakti Prakash Hrishikesh Maharaja, I was a little numb at first. My feelings were not completely settled to his passing. But after looking at his pictures, it finally dawned upon me that His Holiness was no more in this planet. Maharaja reminded me of someone so dynamic in serving Sri Hari, Guru & Vaishnavas. Nothing was impossible for him. Maharaja used to go heads on without thinking of any consequences. He did not believe much in meetings and talking about how to do a seva because he was an action man. He always said to me, “Let’s just do it. Krsna will take care of everything!!!” Maharaja was the first person to assist me in printing the book “Shower of Love.” When Srila Gurudeva ordered me to always write, I was totally lost as what to do. With whatever little knowledge I had, the compilation of lectures took place. But it was Maharaja who showed me the ropes of how to put in the footnotes, headings, sub-headings, titles etc. I re...
6 comments
Read more

Telling Children Stories (Harikatha)

The other day I told my 9 year old student about the story of the "Talking Pot." Sometimes I try to inject in a very "tricky" manner about our Krsna conscious philosophy after a lesson. I usually start by asking my students whether they would love to hear a story or not. They would always say "Y - E - S!!!" in a cheerful manner. These children have no idea who Krsna is. Besides they are not devotees' children either. So story telling is the best way to get the message across. OK coming back to the "Talking Pot." It's a story about how a disciple felt he could do better if he left his Guru's ashram. His service was to fetch water from the Yamuna daily. The disciple thought he would be better off if he found a job and got married. But the pot talked him out of it and he ran back to his Guru. For the full story click here: h ttp://shukasari.blogspot.com/2009/04/talking-water-pot.html After the story I asked my student, Darren, about the ...
Post a Comment
Read more

What is Success?

 What is success? Many times we view success, even in devotional life, as having multiple temples, many devotees, loads of amazing festivities and the list goes on. Well, nothing is wrong in that. But the success in spiritual life must be in accordance to what Sri Guru wants and not what we want.  If a temple is small and has a very small congregation, does that mean they are not successful? We tender to measure everything with mundane vision and with extremely limited foresight even in our spiritual path.  Whether big or small, as long as Sri Guru and Krsna is pleased, that is all it takes to move forward in the path of devotion. At the end of the day, each and every soul has their own unique journey and realizations to finally go back home, back to Godhead. One can be like Sabari, residing all by herself in the forest but very firmly holding on to her guru-seva in plucking berries which eventually led her to have darshan of Lord Rama or even having many association in a...
Post a Comment
Read more